Author: Christopher George

Showing 1-21 of 63 results

Soap peddler: Kimberly Masters Kimberly Masters has always been the crafty type. As a business student at UNC-Greensboro, she made things in ceramics classes. Later, she moved on to fleece hats and headbands, which she made while working as a bicycle tour guide in Alaska. It was a more recent trip to the doctor, though, […]

What comes to mind when you think of museums? Stuffy assemblages of high art? Historically or culturally significant items sealed behind forbidding glass cases, supervised by scowling guards? Informative yet eminently forgettable school field trips? Sure, an hour or two in a museum can give lazy vacationers a bit of intellectual stimulation, but can you […]

On Sunday afternoon, Asheville’s Patton Property Group held an Open House at 1 Norwood Park Avenue to promote its new Homes for Heroes program, which gives a 25 percent discount off the real estate commission to teachers, firefighters, public safety officers, health care workers, and military personnel looking to buy or sell a home in […]

Earlier this week, Asheville officially became home to what Adventure America Zipline Canopy Tours CEO Jeff Greiner calls the first urban zip-line experience in Western North Carolina. Xpress was there, camera in hand, to see what all the zip-lining fuss is about.

Three Asheville area businesses are among the 25 named “North Carolina Companies to Watch” by CED and the Edward Lowe Foundation. Both are private, nonprofit organizations promoting entrepreneurial efforts in North Carolina. Hickory Nut Gap Farms, Moog Music, and FLS Energy are all slated to be honored at an awards ceremony September 21 in Durham.

Check out some of the great two-wheeled transportation from yesteryear with our tour of the Wheels Through Time motorcycle museum in Maggie Valley, videoed as part of special upcoming Getaway regional museum tour out later this month.

Even in the midst of the Great Recession, some local businesses are doing quite well. What have they figured out that others haven’t? What can we learn from them? Here’s what three successful startups had to say about their own adventures on the road to economic viability. Industry Nine It might seem perfectly natural that […]

At a time when the local economy is sluggish, Industry Nine, designer and manufacturer or high-end bicycle hubs and wheels is thriving, with sales climbing 30 percent last year. Xpress takes you on a tour of this unique local business’s manufacturing process, going from raw aluminum, to finished hub, to wheel assembly.

Where do you go when you need short reprieve from the daily grind, nothing too big, just a one-off thing? Where do you go to get away? Share those ideas with your digital neighbors, and let’s get the getaway conversation going.

Star Watch Night Vision Tours creator Dawn Bankson sums up the idea behind her business pretty succinctly: “The ancients used to look up at the sky, but we don’t,” she explains. At it’s core, that’s what Star Watch is, a chance to look up at the sky. Of course, Star Watch adds a small twist to that rather ordinary experience: $3,500 night vision goggles.

At its August 2 meeting, the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners approved a measure that paves the way for Enka High School to install solar panels on its roof. The move means that Enka can move forward with plans to install both photovoltaic and solar water heating systems on the roof beginning in September.

Lee-Walker Heights isn't for sale, but Asheville officials have a plan to redevelop it. At their July 26 meeting, Asheville City Council members unanimously agreed to join the Housing Authority in applying for a $300,000 Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant (formerly called HOPE VI), which provides funding for a variety of community revitalization projects — many […]

At its meeting tonight the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners is will consider a measure that would pave the way for Enka High School to install solar panels on its roof. Also at tonight’s meeting, Comissioners will hear the county’s annual Tax Settlement Report.

Lee-Walker Heights isn’t for sale, but Asheville officials have a plan to redevelop it.

At their July 26 meeting, Asheville City Council members unanimously agreed to join the Housing Authority in applying for a $300,000 Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant (formerly called HOPE VI), which provides funding for a variety of community revitalization projects — many aimed at creating mixed-income housing and stimulating homeownership among low-income residents.

If the agenda for tonight’s Asheville City Council meeting is any indicator, things could move along quickly at City Hall. Council is expected to take up a conditional zoning request for a portion of a lot containing Trinity United Methodist Church at 587 Haywood Road in West Asheville, a resolution supporting the city being a co-applicant with the Asheville Housing Authority for a Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant, and a massive 19-item Consent Agenda

It’s been a busy summer at the Burton Street Peace Garden in West Asheville so far. A new outdoor classroom space is being built on the Peace Garden’s lot as part of a 10-week design-build studio summer course organized by the design center. Check out our video of the site, currently under construction.